The Beginning Of The End
by CrimsonReaper1996
Summary: It was just a normal Thursday afternoon for a young man, when the worst possible scenario that was held over the nations of the world became a reality. Now, with no memory beyond his final moments, the young man wakes up in the world of Kung Fu Panda and must find out how he got there, only knowing the key lies in his lost memories. *warning: coarse language, violence, dark themes*
1. Prologue

Hey, CrimsonReaper here, or just CR for short. So, this is my first actual story. Like, ever. I've never attempted to do something like this before because I've never felt confident in my writing skill, but I've thrown caution to the wind. Anyway, this starts of weird for a Kung Fu Panda story,but don't worry, this is just a prologue and will make sense soon. Well, I hope I have something interesting here that will make you want more, so without further ado, welcome to The Beginning Of The End.

Disclaimer: I'm not rich enough to own Kung Fu Panda. But the plot and OC is mine.

* * *

 **The Beginning Of The End**

 **Location: Columbia, South Carolina, United States Of America**

 **Date: Thursday, July 28, 2016**

 **Time: 1:33 PM**

Sweat poured down his forehead, muscles strained from the repetitive actions, and all that could be heard was the constant banging of his hammer. Wood lay scattered around and a box of deck nails sat on the ground next to the young man. 'Of all the things I could be doing on my day off, Mom just has to have me fixing the damn deck,' thought the young man.

In truth, it was no bother at all to him. He was 20 years old and living with his mother while paying minimal rent and none at all for food. He knew he was lucky that his mother not only let him move in with her, but also found him a job as a general laborer with a personal construction company. He learned how to fix walls, install plumbing, wire a house, and even how to build a house. The only real downside to this experience was that his mother would constantly ask him his opinion on how something could be done to improve the house and then ask him if he could go ahead and construct whatever she wanted. But, mothers get want mothers want. Since he had only been working that job for about a year, he wasn't expertly skilled, but he was decent, and it pleased his mother.

He could be a little slow, though, when it came to heavy lifting. Standing at a height of 5' 6", and a weight of 135 pounds, he wasn't a very imposing man. His hair was naturally brown, but he always liked how black hair looked, so, every so often, he would dye it black. He also appreciated styles that seemed mature and had his hair grown out and combed to look like a college historian's would, with the sides of his hair brushed back and the front swept up and to the left of his face. He skin was a tannish brown as his mother being of Hispanic descent and his father of Germanic descent. He was basically an average man with a small stature. However, there was one thing unique to him that he has yet never seen in someone else. His eyes. His mother had chocolate brown eyes and his father had hazel eyes, yet the young man had been born with his left eye blue and his right eye green.

He had always liked how unique his eyes were, and apparently other people agreed. All throughout middle school and high school, girls had fawned over how "pretty his eyes are." No guy ever complimented on his trait, though, that didn't bother him. It would have just made him feel awkward if a guy randomly walked up to him and told him he liked his eyes. It wasn't that he wouldn't appreciate being complimented, but being straight and growing up in a small town in Illinois made him somewhat sheltered and unused to guys that were more open about their feelings and opinions that deviated from the age-old way a man should act.

Stopping for a second, the young man admired his work on the deck so far. He had replaced half of the boards as they had been uncared for and unprotected by the previous owner of the house. The deck had been left to soak up the rain, and cracked from the changing of the seasons, while moss was growing on the steps and railings of it. Since the boards that were worn out had been replaced, the next step was cleaning up the wood he had pulled off and burning it since his mother and he lived beyond the city limits. With the thought of being done soon entering his mind, the young man gathered up a total of eight boards, each being 6 inches wide, 2 inches thick, and 10 feet long.

Usually, a person of his size would have had a lot of trouble carrying such a load. However, he had unusually strong legs for his stature. He got this trait from his father, whom, like him, had been short and skinny when his was younger. His father liked physical sports though, and had been a running back for the football team at his high school. Being part of the football team, his father had to work out in the weight room with the rest of the team to build up their strength, however, no matter what his father did, his upper body never really developed much. Unexpectedly, his lower body developed tremendously. He easily was able to deadlift 435 pounds and had to buy pants that were much bigger than what he needed so that his legs would fit in them.

With that in mind, the young man easily carried the load of wood across the backyard of his shared house and dropped the wood in the middle of a circle of ash. A few feet away stood a small metal shed. The young man went into the shed and came out a few moments later with a box of matches and a 5 gallon canister of gasoline. He took the cap off the canister, poured some gas on the pile of wood, stood back a few feet, lit a match, and threw it. Fire engulfed the wood as the gasoline ignited. Deciding that it was a good a time as any for a break, the young man wiped his hands on his jeans and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He knew he should give up this nasty habit for his health's sake, but he truly enjoyed smoking. Something about taking slow, controlled breaths as he took puffs from a cigarette calmed and relaxed him. He opened the pack and took out a cancer stick.

Striking a match, he put the cigarette to his lips and lit up. He took the smoke into his mouth slowly, shaking the lit match out and tossing it into the small bonfire next to him. Pulling the cigarette away, he took in a deep breath, allowing the smoke to fill his lungs. He held his breath for a couple seconds, and slowly exhaled, watching as the smoke floated away, twisting and dancing in the breeze. He smiled. Today was as good as a Thursday could get.

He put the cigarette back to his lips and looked up at the clouds. As he was drawing in more smoke, he watched as the clouds slowly drifted by. Exhaling, he continued to look at the sky and noticed something pretty common: the thin line of vapor created by airplanes that used jets. As he looked, he could see the trail was actually significantly long and getting longer as he could just barely make out the plane creating the trail. From what he had seen planes do before in his time living here, this plane in particular seemed to be travelling fast. Much faster than what he was used to seeing.

'Huh. It must be running late,' the young man thought. He was about to look away and get back to fixing the deck when he noticed something that for some reason started to make him feel cold. The plane was starting to get bigger. 'Heh, it's just preparing for it arrival to an airport,' the young man thought, trying to assure himself. But try as he might, he still felt cold and couldn't remove his eyes from the plane. Then, as the plane got closer, he realized why he was feeling so cold over a seemingly ordinary occurrence. _The "plane" didn't have any wings._ As he saw this, he went quickly through his knowledge of things that flew with the use of powerful jet engines that didn't have wings. His eyes widened, his body started to shake, and he couldn't move. As the object flew overhead, flying faster and growing closer by the second, he could it roaring as it headed in the direction of the city. Soon, he could no longer see the object.

He looked in the direction of the city. He dropped his cigarette. And that's when he saw the flash.

He could feel the colossal tremors as the wave of hellish destruction rolled towards him. He just stood there. He already knew there was nothing for him to do. He was too close to the impact. If the the wave didn't kill him, the fallout would. So he stood and listened to the deafening roars as trees were ripped the ground and houses were torn apart. He didn't worry about his mother. She was working in the city and was dead by the time he saw flash. His father was in Illinois, as was his sister and her fiance and her baby. He didn't worry about them either. It would have been useless to do so in his final moments. If he was going to die, he would do it calmly.

To him, it seemed to take an eternity for the nuclear wave to hit him. In reality, it was 5 seconds from the moment he saw the flash. Just before the wave hit him, he closed his eyes. He felt the intense heat for half a second.

And then there was nothing.

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So, how did I do for my first chapter ever? If you could kindly leave reviews telling me what was good,what was bad, and what might improve my writing, I would very much appreciate it. Remember that this is the prologue, and the real story won't begin until the next chapter, official chapter one. So until the next update, this is CrimsonReaper1996, saying have a fantastic day.


	2. Chapter 1 - Oblivion

**Author's Note:**

 **Just wanted to give you guys a little heads up that the rest of the story will be in First Person POV. The prologue was in third person solely for the purpose of starting the story. Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Kung Fu Panda, unfortunately, but I do own the OC and the plot.**

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 **Location: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

 **Time: Unknown**

"...okay...this feels weird." My eyes were still shut. I could definitely still speak. I can even think. I know that the wave hit me while I was standing, I remember feeling the heat of the explosion as the shockwave reached me. But this, right now, I don't feel anything.

I opened my eyes. I closed them. I opened them again. Nothing. There was absolutely nothing. All I could see was black. I looked down at my body to determine whether or not I was just blind. I saw my clothes; some dirty blue jeans with a brown leather belt and some worn out sneakers. I also seemed to be just floating in the middle of all the darkness. "Yup. Not blind. Just surrounded never-ending darkness. While still being able to see myself, somehow," I said, thinking out loud.

That wasn't much of a shock to me. I knew I was dead, that was the only explanation. But what was weird, was that I still had all my faculties. I could think, speak, I could feel my face scrunched up from having my eyes closed, I could breathe; basically, I felt alive. I wasn't expecting that when I died. I never believed in an afterlife; well, no, that's not true. My parents were Christian so they expected us to believe in God and Jesus and attend Church and all that crap. And my sister and I did. At least when we were young.

As I got older, however, I began question the whole concept of their being an almighty, infallible being that was responsible for everything in the universe and was always watching over us. I remember when I was 7, I asked my mom that if God created the Earth around 6,000 years ago, then how come dinosaur bones are millions of years old. Long story short, she didn't have an answer, and I began pondering about what I believed in.

I know it doesn't seem like something a 7 year old would be thinking about, but I was a very intelligent child. I wasn't a genius, but I can safely say I was smarter than average. So, I eventually came to the conclusion, for me, that there was no God, and that religion was just a by product of needing to make sense of the phenomenon of the world and bring together a sense of community.

And now, here I am, standing, seemingly alive and unharmed after being vaporized from a nuclear warhead. It was clear to me. There was only one way to appropriately react.

"Oh, fuck me."

"Sorry, but it seems a little too soon for something like that," a female voice replied.

I stiffened. The voice seemed to emanate from a few feet in front of me. Judging on the sound of it, and also in the way it replied, it appeared to be someone in at least their 30s. I already knew that I wasn't blind, but the fact that I couldn't see whoever had spoken terrified me, especially since I'm afraid of the dark.

Trying to mask my terror, I called back to the voice loudly, "Well, before we would get to that, I suppose a nice romantic dinner would be in order, followed by a lovely walk through the streets before we settled down for some stargazing. Provided that I could see who my potential lover looks like." I admit, it was pretty terrible attempt to get whoever, or whatever, it was to show itself, but when your faced with a situation that you dismissed as a logical impossibility, surrounded by one of your worst fears, and finding out that you are not alone, your brain doesn't work as it usually does.

The voice chuckled darkly, "Oh, but if you could, then there would be no mystery. And it's no fun if there's no mystery. Besides, I need to see if you were worth it."

My eyes widened. I gulped nervously and asked the dreaded question, "W-worth what?"

"Why, whether it was worth stealing you. It was certainly a lot of trouble for me given my current situation, and I need to see if you are able to give me what I need," it answered calmly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

'Stealing me?' I thought. My curiosity now outweighed my fear. "What do you mean you 'stole me?'"

If infinite darkness could grin, I swear it was right now. "I trust that you know that you are dead, correct?" I nodded, listening intently. "Well, before your soul moved on to the Spirit World, I managed to, let's say, steer you in my direction. I needed some help and from what I could sense from you, you seemed quite promising."

Questions raced through my mind, but there was only one that I had been wondering since I came here, one that I wanted the answer to at the moment. "So, if I'm not in the Spirit World, whatever the hell that is, then where exactly am I?"

" _Oblivion_ ," the voice whispered into my ear, sending chills down my spine.

I scrunched up my face and asked, "Was that really necessary? I mean, just whispering that right in my ear? I know you were trying to be creepy, but that was just annoying."

There was silence for a few moments. 'Way to go me, you just probably pissed off something that you no idea what it's capable of and that you can't see, besides being able to apparently steal your soul. Smart move,' I thought, scolding myself.

Suddenly, the voice roared laughter throughout the dark abyss. I raised my eyebrow. "Well, I'm glad to see someone here is amused," I grumbled lowly.

The laughter subsided into chuckles, "Well, well, well, someone's a bit cheeky, aren't they? I think I'm beginning to like you."

Without warning, I felt something small, but powerful, hit my chest and I went flying back. I hit the ground and slid, feeling the air leave my lungs. I'd never been in a fight before, so I didn't know that having such tremendous force hit you in the chest hurt _that_ _much_. All I could do was lay there on my back. "But that doesn't mean that I tolerate any disrespect," the voice said darkly. I could hear small clicking sounds getting slowly closer from the direction I was thrown from. The voice then sneered, "So there has be some form of punishment to rectify your transgressions."

I coughed, trying to get air back in my lungs as a sat up. I looked down and I could see my chest was bleeding slightly from what appeared to be eight small holes. There seemed to be a pattern to the holes, with six holes near the top of my chest and two holes near the bottom. The six holes seemed to be separated into two groups of three, with one of the lower holes directly under the middle hole in each of the groups of three.

The clicking stopped right in front of me. "So, anything to say before we get on with your punishment?" the voice asked.

I slowly got up. I really hate my curiosity right now, because there was only one thing I could think of. "...There's a ground in this place?"

"..."

"...Excuse me?"

"Well, when I got here, I noticed that I seemed to have been just floating in the middle of all this darkness, but then you threw me pretty far, at least I think you did, and I felt myself hit the ground. So, I was wondering if there was actually a ground or this place just can just make it feel like there's a ground anywhere, or something like that."

"...You're completely serious, aren't you?" the voice asked, incredulously, "Of all the things you could say, and you choose _that?_ " The voice chuckled, "I must say, your blatant disregard for the danger you're in is impressive. Well, I suppose you deserve a reward for giving me such amusement."

The darkness in front of me started to swirl, forming a sort of black spinning sphere that seemed to give off some kind of dark aura. Cracks of light started to appear on the surface of the sphere before it started to slow down. I watched with wide eyes, mesmerized as the sphere finally stopped and the sphere slowly unfolded, revealing itself as two large dark wings that were hiding some sort of creature.

The creature was facing me with its wings spread as the dark aura surrounding it slowly dissipated. I looked at the wings as color started seep through. The tips of the wings appeared to be almost metal like, and looked as sharp as razors. The rest of the feathers on the wings looked to be a sort of bluish-gray at the top and bottom, while the middle seemed to be a snow white. The wingspan on the creature looked to be an impressive 7 feet, while the creature seemed to stand at around 5 feet tall.

I looked at the creatures face. It looked to be some sort of owl. It had a circular, white face with large purple eyes. It was smirking at me, and I noticed that the tip of its beak seemed to have lipstick on it. 'Well, it could just be colored that way, plenty of birds have multicolored beaks.' I looked at the owl's body. It was wearing a sort of purple vest with a gold trim, and a large black belt around it waist. The owl's chest was also quite larger then the rest of its body. 'Nevermind, definitely a woman.'

"Well now, whatever could you be looking at?" the owl asked, chuckling.

My face lit up, "I-I, *ahem*, I was just observing your peculiar clothing." 'Oh yeah, great cover idiot. Wait, how is an owl talking? In English no less? Whatever, I'm just gonna chalk that up to the "Things Are Weird Here" board.'

The owl rolled her eyes, "Of course you were. Well, anything else you want to say before we get on with your punishment?"

"What's your name?" I asked. I mean seriously, she's kicked my ass already and all I know about her is that she brought me here and is some sort of magical talking owl. I at least want to know the name of the person, or thing, that's gonna beat me.

The owl smirked, "We'll get to that later. Right now, it's time for the _fun."_ _ **  
**_

I raised my eyebrow. "What fu-AAAAH!" Before I even got the rest of my question out, the owl had raised her wing and slashed me across the chest with her feathers. The pain was so intense that fell to my knees. I looked at my chest and saw I had three diagonal slashes from my left collarbone to my right hip. They weren't too deep, but they were bleeding a lot and stung like hell.

The owl was laughing at this point but I barely registered it. I was too focused on the blood coming out of my body. I'd never had such a serious injury in my life, and the fact that this owl had just attacked me with no remorse terrified me. My body started to shake as I started to hyperventilate.

"Aww, is the poor baby scared? We'll have to work on that if I'm going to use you."

I shakily raised my head and looked at the owl with fear-filled eyes. "W-w-what do y-you mean, 'u-use m-me?'"

The owl grabbed my left arm with her talons and twisted it behind my back with a sickening crack. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. My throat closed up and I could feel my head heat up and feel dizzy. I barely recognized that I was experiencing shock as I fell on my right side and tears started to well up in my eyes.

The owl loomed over me and looked down with sadistic eyes. She had a twisted smile on her face as she raised her foot over my head. "Why, you're going to become my little assassin." She brought her foot down and the little sense I had left was snuffed as everything went black.

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 **Author's Note:**

 **Alright people, that was the first chapter of my story, and I really enjoyed writing it. I just wanted to say that I'm not just writing this story for me, I'm writing it for you guys too. Therefore whatever input you have would be greatly appreciated. I'm always open to criticism, as long as it's constructive, because all it does is help me improve the story. And if any of you have any suggestions as to where this story goes, I'll gladly listen to what you have to say. Just leave me a review to read. Anyway, this is CrimsonReaper1996 saying have a fantastic day.**


	3. Chapter 2 - Memory Loss

**Author's Note:**

 **Hey guys, Finally I'm back with another chapter! This one is much longer than the previous chapters, I hope you don't mine. Keep in mind this is still the beginning, so things are gonna be a little slow. But if you are really antsy to see this story moving, don't worry, the next chapter will take care of that. In fact, I'll let you in on a little spoiler at he bottom. Anyway, let's get the show on the road. Enjoy!**

"Talking"

 **"Twisted Talking"**

 _'Thinking'_

 _ **'Twisted Thinking'**_

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 **Location: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

 **Time: Early Afternoon**

I woke up with a gasp, eyes snapping open, which was a bad idea as the sun decided to blind me, forcing them closed. I must have taken a nap while fixing the deck. My heart was racing as I took deep breaths to calm myself from the nightmare I just had. It was so strange; I had never had such a realistic dream before. But, like all my nightmares before, it was already forgotten. All I could remember was the fear.

My head was pounding as I raised my hand and pressed it to my forehead. _'Oh my head…wait, why does my hand feel weird?'_ I held my hand out in front of me, slowly blinked my eyes as they adjusted to the brightness. The image of my hand slowly sharpened. For some reason, I had on a pair of soft, black leather fingerless gloves. I arched my eyebrow in confusion. ' _When did I put gloves on?'_ I slowly turned my hand as I took in the craftsmanship of the glove.

The glove seemed to cover from the start of my wrist to the second knuckle of my fingers, the exception being my thumb, which was completely covered. The palm of the glove seemed to have some sort of padding on it, separated into two pieces so that I could easily close my and without any limitation. The stitching was done with a blood red thread that I barely was able to notice. The back of the glove had some sort of design stitched on it, made with the same red thread. The design depicted two crossed blades, forming an X. Finally, the knuckles of the glove seemed to have been reinforced, much like the palm of the glove, but the material being much more solid than the soft padding of the palm.

Grimacing, I unsteadily got to my feet, my headache becoming more prominent, indicating that I had been lying down for quite some time. As my vision darkened form getting up too quickly, a wave of dizziness hit me and I blindly reached my hand out in hopes of finding something to support myself with. Fortunately, my hand came in contact with a tall, flexible pole and I was able to stop myself from falling over.

' _Oh God, I feel just like I did that time Mike convinced me to down that entire bottle of rum in five minutes_.'

Leaning some of my weight onto the pole, I stood still, slightly hunched, waiting for the vertigo to subside. My vision was slowly becoming clear and I noticed that the gloves weren't the only change to my wardrobe. Instead of my dirty sneakers, I was wearing a pair of knee high boots made of the same supple leather as my gloves. Tucked into the boots was a pair of black skintight pants with a small strip of red going down the sides. My chest was now covered with a black sleeveless vest that was thickly woven, with a strip of red running down the sides, the same as my pants. The vest overlapped in the front and was held together by five wooden pegs attached to the front flap of the vest and put through small loops of rope attached to the right side of the vest. I felt a faint tickling sensation of the back of my neck and reached my hand behind my head. I felt a piece of cloth and tried to pull it off, only to find out that it was attached to my vest. I then slowly pulled the piece of cloth over my head, revealing it to be a small hood.

Forcing myself to not panic from these changes while my head was still reeling, I pulled the hood as far over my head as it would go. I sighed in relief as the light wasn't assaulting my eyes as much and my headache started to lessen. I closed my eyes and found comfort in the darkness; surprisingly, the vertigo seemed to fade quicker also, which was quite odd, since shutting your eyes is supposed to increase the feeling of vertigo. ' _I think I'm gonna be alri-_ ' *HRRRRRRK* *SPLASH* "...goddammit..."

Wiping my mouth with the back of my glove, I slowly straightened myself up and was about to put my head against the pole I had been using when I saw that it wasn't actually a pole. It was a bamboo tree. I'd never actually seen one in real life, but it's hard to mistake what was right in front of me.

My face and mind were blank as I slowly spun around in a circle and saw myself completely surrounded by bamboo trees. I stared at the bamboo tree that I had been leaning on. I closed my eyes, counted to five, and opened them again. It was still there. The corners of my mouth started twitching.

"…Heh…heheh….heheheh…hehehahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! _HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!_ I'M IN A BAMBOO FOREST! A _BAMBOO_ FOREST! HAHHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAhahahaha…heheh…he…" The absurdity of my situation caused a momentary lapse in my sanity, which was a welcome relief. All too soon, the logic center of my brain rebooted and began to comprehend the gravity of my circumstances.

I was in foreign clothing that I never bought nor saw before. I was no longer in Columbia. Nor South Carolina. Not even the United States. The bamboo forest looked too wild to be anything but a naturally grown forest. Which, as far as I knew, only grew in Asia.

My heart sped up as dread began to worm its way into my stomach. Dizziness filled my head and I was unable to keep my balance this time, falling backwards onto the ground. I laid there, looking up at the bright blue sky while I began sifting through my memories to figure out how the hell I got here. It wasn't a dream because nothing I had seen so far looked familiar in any way and I had read somewhere in a science article that your brain takes images you have seen before and rearranges them while you sleep in order to process the information of the day and, in doing so, creates dreams.

Reeling in my emotions, I allowed logic to become the exclusive portion of my psyche to influence my thoughts.

"Alright, so, what do I know?" Thinking out loud always helps me organize myself and as a bonus, it calms me down when I'm stressed. "I was fixing the back deck on my day off because mom wanted me do something instead of just sitting on my ass all day. It was a Thursday. It was late July so it was starting to really get hot. I was wearing pants and sneakers with no shirt. I replaced most of the bad boards and carried them to the burn pit. I stopped to smoke a cigarette and…and…" My memory of the day stopped there. That was concerning.

I may not have the best memory when it comes to what somebody tells me to do, but I _always_ remembered what I did during the day. And the sudden lack of memory of what I did was starting to terrify me. But what even more distressing was that I was certain that whatever happened after I smoked my cigarette was the key to figuring out how I got here.

A sudden thought flitted through my mind. If I didn't remember what happened that day, what else didn't I remember? Having no way to pinpoint what other memories were gone, if they _were_ gone, I'd have to start from the beginning.

"Okay, let's start with the basics; I was born in Illinois. I'm 20 years old. My name is-"

"SOMEONE HELP!"

I jerked my head up. The scream chilled me to the bone. It was full of terror and anguish. But for some reason, it sounded vaguely familiar. Like I had heard a similar shriek before. Trembling, I got to my feet.

My heart was pounding in my ears, but I could still make out slight whimpering and a sadistic laugh coming from some ways in front of me. Not wanting to just alert whoever it was to my presence, I crouched down and made my way through the forest as quietly as I could. Which apparently was very quiet. I was able to detect little pebbles or twigs and carefully avoided them, while also slipping in between the dense bamboo trees without touching them.

The source of the whimpering was getting closer and it wasn't very long until I came to the edge of the forest. Green shrubs lined the exterior of the forest, looking less wild and more carefully placed. It was obvious that someone had purposely put the shrubs on the edge of the forest, which meant that I was more than likely either near a road, or approaching the edge of someone's property. I had been around enough farms to know that farmers would often would line the ends of their fields with shrubs or bushes to mark their property lines.

The voices were right behind the shrubs and nothing indicated that anyone had heard my approach. I could make out someone lightly sobbing while two other voices conversed with each other. Astonishingly, they seemed to be talking in English.

"Heh, pretty nice haul, don't you think?" a guttural voice asked.

"Yeah, this guy was just loaded with money! Too bad he decided to not just give it up," an equally gruff voice replied.

"Who cares? It's not like the coward could actually stop us and he won't try anything else after that beating we gave him. Just look at him! He's pathetic."

"Yeah, well, we better get moving soon. Don't want to risk being seen by anybody and have 'em running to the Valley."

"Right."

I licked my dry lips and raised my hands to part the shrubbery when I noticed that they were no longer trembling in the slightest. In fact, I felt completely at ease, as if I had not been sneaking through a forest, which could only be in Asia, with new clothes towards unknown voices, one that had screamed bloody murder less than two minutes ago. I hadn't even taken the time to comprehend that I was heading towards an almost definite dangerous situation. It was a rare lapse in my concern of personal safety.

But that didn't matter right now. This was obviously some sort of mugging, and the two thugs had already admitted to beating their mark into submission. Usually, something like this would have either made my blood boil or sent me running for the hills, but all I felt was a sense of calm determination to help this unfortunate person.

I parted the shrubs carefully, limiting the noise the leaves made and only creating a large enough opening to be able to analyze the situation. Needless to say, I had been expecting to see two bulky looking guys and a smaller, roughed up man. But _nooooo,_ my already distressing day decided to become even more senseless.

There were definitely two bulky looking guys, but they weren't exactly guys. Hell, they weren't guys at all! Standing on their hind legs at what seemed to be 5' 10" and around 300 pounds, were two flippin' crocodiles! They were even wearing pants. _Pants!_ There was also a small…pig…man…lying on the ground with what looked like a broken arm and bloody nose.

' _I…am…insane. I'm insane. Full-on straight jacket in a padded room with my best friend Jeff the Singing Mattress.'_ There was no other explanation that fit. Everything that had happened to me in last twenty minutes was explained perfectly by me suffering some sort of mental breakdown. But my annoying logic kicked in and told me that I wasn't crazy. If I was insane, I wouldn't be able to recognize it.

Which only made this situation only more confusing. Animals that could walk and talk, clearly having sentience and having following the lines of progression that humans did. This place is frickin' weird.

I turned my attention back to the two crocs and pig. The crocs were still raiding the pig's cart, looking for anything of value. The pig was just lying there on the ground, in obvious pain, as he watched the crocs helplessly. I felt a tug in my heart. It may just be a delusion, but the situation was all too familiar to me. I remembered the times I had been beaten and broken like that from bullies that had picked on me because of my small stature.

Frowning, I analyzed the crocs. I doubted they would go away if I just appeared before them and yelled at them. I'd have to fight them. But I've never even been in a fight before! One had a sword strapped to his waist on his left, while the other was holding a club in his left hand. Crude weapons of a less advanced society. _'So, one is left-handed and the other is right-handed.'_ _ **'Club is slower, easier to disarm. Sword is more challenging. Opposite dominant hands make it difficult to adjust to the opposite angles of attack if both are fought at once,'**_ a different voice in my head suggested.

I willed myself not to jump in surprise at the sudden new voice. It was cold, dark, and emotionless in its observation, but it was also familiar and calming. I was about to question its existence when it continued, ' _ **Stealth is key. An unseen enemy is a feared enemy. Divide and conquer. Once one of them is down, the other will be demoralized. Fear will cloud his mind and make his actions wild and desperate. Openings to strike will appear often but go quickly. Position of eyes leaves the back a blind spot. Scales are thicker on the back, making it difficult to do damage from there. However, small spot on back of the neck is vulnerable. Hitting it with enough pinpoint force will render him unconscious.'**_

As the voice was speaking, I realized why I recognized it. It was _my_ voice. I didn't realize it at first because of the lack of emotion and the combat strategies it was listing off. But it was mine, no doubt about it. I didn't question its existence, or the knowledge that it had, and instead just chalked it up on the "This place is weird" board. Besides, it was giving out really good advice. As soon as I decided to listen to my strange inner voice, I felt something that could only be described as chilling presence sweep over my mind.

Taking into consideration what the voice said, I looked around for something to distract and lure one of the crocs with. Spotting a stick lying near my feet, I picked it up and slowly made my way backwards into the forest. About 50 feet into the forest was a small clearing, about 20 feet in diameter. I held the stick with both hands and broke it as loudly as I could.

I heard the crocs stop rummaging in the cart for a few seconds before one of them spoke up, "You heard that too, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I think it came from the forest."

"What do you think it was?"

"How am I supposed to know? Why don't you go and find out?"

"What? Why me?"

"Because I said so, now go!"

"Ugh, fine."

The other voice spoke up, _**'Must hide. Trees too noisy to climb. Plenty of cover and shade on the ground.'**_ I took its advice and looked for a decently dark spot for me to hide in. I spotted a small patch of shade off to my left just as I heard the shrubs on the edge of the forest rustle. I hid as quickly as I could and laid down on my stomach. Almost a minute later, the croc with the sword slowly stepped into view about 20 feet away, his weapon drawn as he scanned the area and listened for any noises. I held my breath and laid my head down as his eyes wandered over in my direction.

A minute passed by and the croc suddenly sighed. I lifted my head slowly off the ground and took a peek at him. He was no longer looking in my direction and was starting to sheath his sword. _**'Wait for his back to turn, then strike.'**_

The now relaxed croc turned his back and called out, "There's nothin' here, man. Let's ju-"

I had moved as soon as the croc had turned and jabbed at the base of his head where his skull met his spine. He went down instantly.

"Hey, what happened?" the other croc called out.

' _ **His friend will be here soon. That sword will come in handy.'**_ I untied the sword from the unconscious croc's waist and unsheathed it. It had a blade about three feet long, curved at the tip, with only a single edge. _**'Large, clumsy, improperly balanced. Made for damage, not precision.'**_ The voice paused for a second as I looked down at the croc. _**'Not terrifying enough. Finding his friend dead will allow the fear to inhabit him quicker, causing him to make rasher decisions. Finding his friend**_ **gutted** _ **will make him nearly paralyzed, allowing a longer moment to strike with this farce of a weapon.'**_

Without a further thought, I rolled the croc on his side and stabbed the sword into his soft belly. I then jerked the sword to the side, opening him up. As the blood began to pool on the ground, I smirked. _**'Too easy.'**_

I heard rapid rustling coming towards me. _**'Blood on the sword will leave a trail. Either wipe it off, or leave it to grab while the other is distracted.'**_ I decided to leave the sword stuck in the ground so it wouldn't encumber me as I moved. Then I climbed one of the bamboo trees quickly, hoping that the other croc was making too much noise himself to notice the rusting tree. I got high enough that the croc wouldn't notice me, but low enough that I wouldn't be too hurt if I dropped down.

A few seconds later, the other croc burst through the dense bamboo, club raised high above his head. He looked around wildly for a second before his gaze caught the sight of his friend. Just as planned, the croc's eyes widened and his jaw hung limply at the scene before him. _**'Not yet. Closer.'**_

The croc took trembling steps towards his fallen friend, his club arm hanging loosely at his side. Just as he passed the sword, I dropped down from the tree. Since he hadn't made any acknowledgement of having heard me, I assumed he was too shocked at the sight of the other croc to be able to hear anything else. He came to a stop at his friend's side and dropped to his knees. _**'Perfect.'**_

I silently made my way over to the sword and pulled it out of the ground. The croc didn't move. I then moved and positioned myself right behind him. I raised the sword, preparing to strike him in the head. As I brought the sword down, the croc suddenly whirled around, swinging the club and catching the right side of my head.

I was sent flying and landed on my back, surprised at the strength of the blow. The sword had been jarred loose from my grasp when I was hit. I lifted my head up just in time to see a blurry croc standing above me with his club raised. _**'Roll to the right.'**_ *THUD* The croc's club smashed the ground where I had just been. He was slowly coming back in to focus as he raised his club again. _**'Roll to the left.'**_ *THUD* I could see the croc clearly now. His face was twisted in murderous rage. _**'Angry and rash. Can use that as an advantage.'**_

The croc's club came down again. I rolled out of the way and saw the impact. He putting so much force into his swings that there were indents in the dirt and I could see small cracks starting to form on the club. I smirked. I knew what to do.

As he raised his club in the air again, I taunted him. "What's the matter? Can't hit the guy who gutted your pathetic friend?"

He roared in blind rage and brought his club down with even more force. I dodged it and the impact shattered the club. Before he could realize his mistake, I jumped up and grabbed the sword lying a few feet away from where I had landed.

The croc whipped his head towards me, shock evident on his face while he held the broken remains of his weapon. Knowing he had the superior strength, I decided to take a chance and hurled the sword at him. The sword went right into his gaping mouth and out the back of his neck. He stood there for a moment before toppling over, gurgling slightly as blood began to seep into the ground.

I smirked and walked over to his body. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and he wasn't breathing. I looked at his waist and saw a large sack tied to it. I took it off his waist and opened it. It was filled with what looked like gold coins. No wonder they were so happy they had found that pig.

Sack in hand, I walked back towards where the injured pig was, leaving the two crocs in Mother Nature's hands. I emerged from the forest and saw the pig in the same spot as last time. He was curled on his side cradling his broken arm. I decided to get his attention and pulled down my hood.

"Hey."

He stiffened and turned his head. Horror plastered his face as he looked at me. "G-get away from me!" Well, that wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

Holding out the sack, I told him, "I got your gold here."

He never even looked at the sack, keeping his eyes only on my face before he cried, "Don't kill me! Please, don't!" At this point, the pig looked like he was becoming hysterical.

I took a step forward. "Look, I-"

I got cut off as a stone sailed by my head, narrowly missing my ear. "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU DEMON!"

' _ **Demon?'**_ Another stone was thrown at me. The pig was obviously not going to listen to me. The best course of action at this point was to just leave the pig alone. I hurried back into the forest, dodging any rocks thrown my way. _**'What the hell is wrong with that guy? And what's with calling me a-'**_ I froze as I entered into the clearing. ' _-demon?'_

The cold presence that had taken over my mind left as I looked at the scene before me. It wasn't anything new, just the two crocs I had killed. But I finally realized what I had done. I, never having been in a fight before, had just killed two crocs. Or rather, two people of this odd place. One of which I had ended for no other reason than to make it easier to kill the other. All I had wanted to do was beat them up when I first saw them, but instead I ended up taking their lives.

And I enjoyed it.

Numbly, I looked down at myself. My boots were covered in blood, my hands were stained with it, and I could feel small rivulets on my face. No wonder that pig had called me a demon.

Bile rose in my throat, and I could only try not to get any on me as I fell to my knees and emptied the acid from my stomach. Tears ran down my face, mixing with the blood on it and slowly spattering on the ground.

After about five minutes, I stopped heaving and slowly got stood back up. I wiped my face with my arm and looked back at the bodies. Guilt flooded me, and I could only think of one thing to do to make some sort of atonement. I walked over to the croc that had the sword in his mouth and removed it. As I pulled it out, the sickening sound it made twisted my stomach and I almost started heaving again. With no other tool close by, I began digging two holes in the ground.

* * *

It had taken nearly four hours to dig the graves, but it was finally done. I had covered the mounds with stones lying around the forest and made two crosses with bamboo and vines from around the clearing. It wasn't the best job, but it was something. Without knowing anyone in this strange world that knew these two crocs or what the funeral customs were, I ended up kneeling between the two graves and whispering, "I'm so sorry."

With the funeral done, I went back to the place where I had first woken up. While I was scrounging for stones, I had stumbled back there and saw a sack that I had missed when I was trying to figure out how I had gotten here. It was just a simple brown sack that I could carry on my back. Inside it were some items.

There was a small knife, a leather canteen, a bottle with oil in it, some rope, and a small bag of jerky. But then there were the interesting stuff. A flip lighter, a small box with a sliding button on the side, a handheld crossbow with a few small bolts, and twin single edge swords that could be strapped to the back of my vest.

I was hesitant to pick up the swords due to the very recent incident, but I was given them for whatever reason and knew I needed some way to defend myself. However, I promised myself that if I ever needed to use them, I would keep the sheaths on them. It took me a couple minutes, but I was able to figure out how to strap them on. When I did, I seemed to have gained slightly better balance, as a sense of completeness fell over me. The crossbow seemed to be able to clip to my waist and the extra bolts were held on the side of the crossbow with some built in slots.

When I examined the small box, I determined that it couldn't be opened, but there was a small hole on the top of the box in line with the sliding button. When said button was slid towards the small hole, I was pleasantly surprised to see the end of a cigarette come out. Needless to say, I happily took it and lit it with the lighter before I went back to searching for stones.

Arriving at where I woke up, the sky was a purple hue as the sun began to set. It was a warm night, so a fire didn't seem necessary. Muscles strained from digging, I sat down leaning against some bamboo for a short rest. Having woken up in the afternoon, I wasn't too tired, just emotionally and mentally exhausted. It was a rollercoaster of a day so far and it didn't seem like it would get better any time soon. Taking out my box and lighter, the smell of burning tobacco soon filled the air as I finally allowed myself the time to ponder my situation.

I was in a world of anthropomorphic animals set in China. I had narrowed down where I was to a country since, to the best of my knowledge, Asia was mostly China and Russia, and Russia wasn't the ideal environment for bamboo. It seemed to be somewhat early in development judging from the clothes of the animals and the less than modern weapons they had. They also used precious metals as a source of income such as the golden coins the pig had. Earlier, it had occurred to me that I had never given the pig his money back and found the bag on the ground next to the pile of vomit in the clearing. Currently, it sat in my sack, ' _hehe,'_ with the rest of my stuff.

So far, I have yet to see another human, and, based on the presence of what passes as people in this world, I doubt I would find one. ' _Guess I'm an endangered species then.'_

I thought back to the pig and how he reacted to seeing me. _'The blood may have played a part, but he only looked at my face when he was freaking out. Must have been the first time seeing a human and was terrified by how I looked. Can't really blame him, I almost freaked out when I saw him and the crocs. Probably would be best to hid my face and arms if I plan on trekking out any time soon.'_

This change in wardrobe was concerning, but there wasn't really much to think about since there were no clues or information accompanied by it. None concerning the sack of equipment and supplies I have either. All I could do was just accept their presence and move on. Though, I still wasn't too eager to use those swords.

Then there was the matter of that twisted version of my voice in my head. It hasn't spoken up since the fight. _'It clearly knew how to strategize and fight, yet I have no knowledge of either of those. And when I started listening to it, I seemed to have become a different person. That cold presence that accompanied it is also concerning. Without knowing anything else about it, or where it came from, the best course of action would be to stay cautious when it decides to speak up and remain in control of myself. Losing it like I did with those crocs was just purely unacceptable. They may have been willing to rob and beat someone, but death was too harsh a punishment.'_

I took one last drag and flicked away the finished cigarette.

And finally, my missing memory. Whatever lied in it was the key to how I got here. So far, it seemed that it was intact up until I took a break from fixing the deck. Everything else was there; my family, my childhood and barely begun adulthood, my schooling, my na-

My eyes slowly widened.

"…What's my name?"

* * *

 **Author's Note: Kind of a weird chapter, right? If anything was confusing, or something wasn't clear, please feel free to leave a review. Also just review because it helps me make the story better, and I really do want to make this story the best I can for you guys. Anyways, this is CrimsonReaper1996 saying, have a fantastic day!**

 **Oh and spoiler alert: our character heads to the Valley in the next chapter. It doesn't go too well.**


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